An App Launched in Asia to Revolutionise the Way We Make Friends

There are things in life we simply don’t want to do alone, such as playing squash, travelling to Bali, and eating donuts. We want to be able to crack jokes, laugh till our faces hurt, and slip into the joy of companionship. However, quality company is hard to come by these days. As a result, we would forever be putting off those things that “we have always wanted to do” and end up not doing it at all. Fret not, here comes an app.

JiojioMe is a mobile app designed to connect people based on shared hobbies, activities, and thoughts within a range of 20km. Be it a planned travel or a sudden craving for Japanese food, the app will help you find like-minded people whom you may enjoy sharing the journey and experience with.

Founded by the 36-year-old entrepreneur Lester Tan, JiojioMe was inspired by his experiences of difficulty in finding good companionship. Lester, who resides in the bustling city of Singapore, is one of the most zestful person one can ever find. He can strike up a conversation with people easily and is extremely passionate in exploring new things. Why would such an outgoing personality need or think people need an app like JiojioMe?

The Rise of the Loneliness Epidemic

Traditionally, before the arrival of internet. Friend-making was a much simpler affair. Friends were made in school, and then at work or in the neighbourhood. Those friends would usually stick around in close proximity for a long enough time that you would not feel their absence; and those were the friends that one would play a game of chess in the park or a drink at a nearby coffee shop with.

Today, our best friends are a few seas and lands away from us. What do we do when we want to play a game of Xbox or cycle in the park or go to a music festival in the city?

Our world is highly connected today. It allows us to reach far, but it also isolates us. We neglect to pay attention to what good proximity can offer us. As a result, social interaction declines, it gets harder to meet people in real life, and loneliness rises.

A Solution Enabled by Technology

“Today, everybody is busy. Finding friends to go out with is already very hard. Finding friends with the same interest is even harder,” shared the 36-year-old Adrian Chia, who is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of JiojioMe. He met Lester when they were both in the property industry. He then went on to join Lester in his previous company, Drink Card, and now, JiojioMe.

“We want to make it easy for people to make friends. On JiojioMe, not only do we help people who share the same interest, thoughts, and proximity get together, we also make recommendations on places to go and activities to do at discounted prices,” said Lester.

“JiojioMe is a continuation of Drink Card. It is an mobile app created for people who are into the nightlife of Singapore and it worked to help them find the best deals and promotions. It was a B2C model. With Drink Card, we received really good responses from both the business owners and our users. From there, I saw an opportunity to extend this service to more people from different walks of life and business sectors. But first, we need to create a more intelligent system so that our users can get the most value from our service. When I share this idea with Adrian, he was excited and game,” Lester explained his journey in founding JiojioMe.

Adrian Chia, CTO, and Lester Tan, Founder & CEO of JiojioMe

“We are putting more intelligence into the system itself. Drink Card was more like a directory. When I have an interest, I will search for it at my end. But with Jiojiome, the purpose is actually to push relevant information to our users,” Adrian shared that Jiojiome’s biggest competitive advantage would be — relevancy.

Apart from helping people find quality companies, JiojioMe is also helping business owners reach their target audience and vice versa. Lester is leveraging his more than ten years of experience in dealing with business owners and real estate marketing to create greater value for the consumer market through JiojioMe.

The spirit of JiojioMe is embedded in the name itself as “Jio” literally means “to ask or invite someone out for a social event or activity” in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect widely spoken among Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese, as well as some in China.

“Through JiojioMe, we hope to help more like-minded people get together and stay connected,” Lester concluded.

JiojioMe is officially launched in Singapore and Malaysia. Their next target markets are Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Korea.

To date, JiojioMe has secured early funding from Malaysia-based incubator and early stage investor, Alphacap, and several angel investors. They have also participated in e27’s Echelon Asia Summit in Singapore, SWITCH in Singapore, and RISE in Hong Kong.

JiojioMe is available on App Store and Google Play. Download now for FREE (and it shall remain FREE always).